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Pardew confirms Bent and Remy interest

The 51-year-old confirmed that both players are on the club's list of potential targets as he seeks to improve his squad and avoid a repeat of last season’s disappointing campaign that saw the Tyneside club finish 16th in the Premier League.

Bent has been frozen out at Aston Villa by boss Paul Lambert, while Remy was a former target for Newcastle before opting to join QPR in the January transfer window.

However, while Pardew admits competition is needed for places up front, he urged fans to be patient.

"Both of those players are on our list. I make no bones about that. But they are under contract at other clubs. It's difficult, you have to be careful," he said.

"It's nice for our fans to hear names, but I don't want to disrupt other clubs' preparations. We have a list of four or five strikers who will push (Papiss) Cisse, Shola (Ameobi), Adam Campbell and Yoan Gouffran because that will be important next season."

After a frustrating campaign saw Newcastle flirt with relegation a year on from just missing out on a top-four spot, Pardew admitted to a lack of competition in areas of his squad, specifically the striking department.

"We do need two strikers. Last year I didn't think there was enough competition in that area for a Premier League team," he said.

Newcastle's only signing so far in this transfer window has been 16-year-old midfielder Olivier Kemen from Metz.